Jamba Juice shows off the Better Blended Life through Ultimate

What do you get when you blend a plastic disc, a diverse community, and a thirst for new experiences? The very first Jamba Juice Whirl’d Cup, of course. Jamba Juice is focused on blending real whole fruits and veggies to create great tasting and refreshing beverages. In its maiden tournament at the Alabang Country Club, Jamba Juice showed how life can be Better Blended as it brought together different kinds of people into a community sharing in the spirit of Ultimate frisbee over smoothies.

For Mark De Joya, Brand Development Director for Jamba Juice, Ultimate frisbee strongly resonates with the brand. “Jamba Juice believes in mixing it up, having a positive energy, and creating rich human experiences. We take unusual combinations and blend them together to create unique experiences for our customers. And that’s what the Whirl’d Cup is about – blending all these components to create a fun, open, inclusive event where people can take part in the growing Ultimate community,” he said.

Ultimate Frisbee, or simply known as Ultimate, has been gaining popularity in the Philippines. It’s a no-contact, self-officiated sport that only really needs a disc and a place to play. No special equipment required, just Spirit. It’s due to this very simple nature that has drawn fans and players from all walks of life.

“Ultimate is about the Spirit of the Game. It doesn’t matter what your background is or where you come from. Anyone can give Ultimate a try, have some fun, learn some new things, and meet great people along the way,” said Pinggoy Bautista, President of the Philippine Flying Disc Association, the official governing body of all disc sports in the country.

This diversity was on full display at the recently concluded Jamba Juice Whirl’d Cup 2018, as men, women, and children from different backgrounds came together to play, compete, and have fun. Kids as young as 10 years old were throwing discs to veterans of the game who were in their 40s. The tournament had musicians, corporate executives, service professionals, entrepreneurs, and people from other professions – all of whom bonded over smoothies like Jamba’s Piña Colada Refresher – in between their matches.

Bullet Dumas, a musician and math teacher, has been in the game for several years now and has blended his artistic interests with his love of the game. “You don’t normally associate musicians with sports but with Ultimate, anyone can play. I’ve come to appreciate Ultimate as an art as well – the skill and movement has a certain grace to it,” he noted in Filipino.

There was no shortage of new players as well, who were welcomed with open arms by the community. Survivor castaway and all-around dad Chuckie Dreyfus, a man of diverse talents who is no stranger to mixing it up, played well in his very first foray into Ultimate. “It was a fantastic experience. Considering it was my first time to play, my teammates were so welcoming. In the span of two days, I fell in love with the game and the people,” he said.

It wasn’t all fun and games as the 31 teams battled hard to win. The matches got progressively more intense as the weekend went on. Players were jumping and diving to make crucial plays. In the end, there were 4 teams who emerged champions of their respective brackets: Pancake X (Pool A), DC Brats (Pool B), The Saints (Pool C), and Hux (Pool D).

More than winning and losing, it was all about the spirit of the game. “What really struck me was the sportsmanship and camaraderie. Everyone was competing hard but also encouraging and congratulating other teams. That’s what made me love Ultimate. And that’s what made this weekend really special,” said Sel Guevarra, a sportscaster, professional bodybuilder, and an Ultimate newbie.

Jamba Juice made sure players and fans alike were hydrated and energized throughout the two-day tournament. In between matches, players would flock to the Jamba Juice Fender Blender, a mobile smoothie truck, to get their fix of fresh fruit blends and talk about the game they all play.

With over 500 people from all over attending the Whirl’d Cup, it looks like we can expect more Ultimate action from Jamba Juice in the future. “At Jamba, we want to support those who want to drink life up. So it’s refreshing to see the level of diversity, inclusivity, and community in a competitive sport like Ultimate. We believe that this kind of blending truly squeezes the most of what life has to offer. It’s more than just a plastic disc – it’s the community of those that move it that makes it truly better blended. When it comes to chasing a better blended life, we have a simple mantra: Thirst Begins Today. So there’s no better time to start than now. That said, it is events like this that we look forward to seeing more of in the future,” said Stephanie Elumba, Marketing Manager for Jamba Juice.